Open Paleo

Dinheirosaurus

Bonaparte & Mateus, 1999 deen-YAYR-o-SAWR-us /diːnˌjeɪroʊˈsɔːrəs/

Named for Porto Dinheiro, near where the holotype was found, plus Greek sauros ('lizard') — 'Porto Dinheiro lizard'

154.8–143.1 million years ago Kimmeridgian–Tithonian, Late Jurassic
Late Jurassic stages

Dinheirosaurus is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur that is known from fossils uncovered in modern-day Portugal. It may represent a species of Supersaurus. The only species is Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis, first described by José Bonaparte and Octávio Mateus in 1999 for vertebrae and some other material from the Lourinhã Formation. Although the precise age of the formation is not known, it can be dated around the early Tithonian of the Late Jurassic.

Under dispute

Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis is recovered as a basal diplodocine, often as the sister taxon to Supersaurus (Mannion and colleagues, 2011). Tschopp and colleagues (2015) found the two close enough to propose sinking Dinheirosaurus into Supersaurus as the new combination Supersaurus lourinhanensis, a synonymy that has not been broadly adopted.

Diagnosis

  1. Posterior cervical vertebra (Cv14) with a ventral keel restricted to the posterior end of the centrum (autapomorphy).
  2. Subvertical lamina between the ventral surface of the postzygodiapophyseal lamina and the dorsal surface of the posterior centrodiapophyseal lamina in posterior cervical vertebrae.
  3. Three small subcircular fossae posterior to the lateral coel on the neural spine of posterior cervical vertebra Cv14 (autapomorphy).
  4. Presacral neural spines unbifurcated (a reversal, autapomorphic within Flagellicaudata).
  5. Dorsal centra maintaining approximately the same anteroposterior length throughout the series (autapomorphic within Diplodocidae).
  6. Robust horizontal accessory lamina linking the hyposphene with the base of the posterior centrodiapophyseal lamina in middle-posterior dorsal vertebrae (autapomorphy).
  7. Diapophyses projecting dorsolaterally in the dorsal vertebrae (autapomorphic within Diplodocidae).

Species

Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis Bonaparte & Mateus, 1999

Type species

Named for the Lourinhã Formation of Portugal, from which the holotype was recovered.

Holotype
ML 414 , Museu da Lourinhã
Material
Two articulated posterior cervical vertebrae, the articulated dorsal series (nine vertebrae plus the diapophysis of a tenth), dorsal ribs, one anterior caudal centrum and several incomplete centra, a distal pubis fragment, and gastroliths.
Horizon
Praia da Amoreira-Porto Novo Member, Lourinhã Formation, Kimmeridgian–Tithonian, Late Jurassic , 154.8–143.1 million years ago
Locality
Praia de Porto Dinheiro, Lisbon, Portugal

References

  1. Bonaparte, J. F.; Mateus, O. (1999). A new diplodocid, Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Jurassic beds of Portugal. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia" e Instituto Nacional de Investigación de las Ciencias Naturales, Paleontología 5(2): 13-29. bonaparte1999a
  2. Mannion, P. D.; Upchurch, P.; Mateus, O.; Barnes, R. N.; Jones, M. E. H. (2011). New information on the anatomy and systematic position of Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis (Sauropoda: Diplodocoidea) from the Late Jurassic of Portugal, with a review of European diplodocoids. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 10(3): 521-551. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.595432

    Redescription and emended diagnosis of Dinheirosaurus; recovers it as the sister taxon to Supersaurus, treated provisionally.

    mannion2011a
  3. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026b
  4. Tschopp, E.; Mateus, O.; Benson, R. B. J. (2015). A specimen-level phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of Diplodocidae (Dinosauria, Sauropoda). PeerJ 3: e857. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.857

    Proposed synonymizing Dinheirosaurus into Supersaurus as Supersaurus lourinhanensis.

    tschopp2015a